Morelos was a child of mixed ethnic heritage in a society in which fine-line categorical distinctions were drawn on the basis of the composition of one’s ethnic background. Generally, he is characterized as having been a pardo—that is, the progeny of mixed European, Native American, and African heritage. He is also sometimes characterized as mulatopardo, which, under another classification scheme, is defined as a person of half Native American and half African descent.

Born in poverty, Morelos worked as a muleteer and cowhand until at the age of 25 he began study for the priesthood at the Colegio de San Nicolás in Valladolid. He held several obscure curacies serving mostly Indians and mestizos. Early in 1811 he joined Hidalgo’s insurrection, and after Hidalgo’s death (July 31) he took command of the movement in southern Mexico. Between 1812 and 1815 he controlled most of Mexico southwest of Mexico City, holding at one time or another Acapulco, Oaxaca, Tehuacán, and Cuautla (Santiago Cuautla). Lacking manpower to consolidate control over all of the region after his victories, he turned increasingly to guerrilla tactics.

Morelos called the Congress of Chilpancingo in 1813 to form a government and draft a constitution. In November the congress declared Mexico’s independence, and in October 1814 at Apatzingán it promulgated an egalitarian constitution. The congress was safe, however, only so long as it moved from place to place under the protection of Morelos’s nomadic army. Finally, royalist forces caught up with the insurgents, but Morelos fought a rearguard action allowing most of the revolutionary government to escape. He was captured, however, and, after being defrocked, was shot as a traitor.